Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to products made or derived from tobacco, or that otherwise incorporate tobacco, and are intended for human consumption and methods for the production thereof. In this regard, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the manufacture of filter rods and smoking articles incorporating such filter rods and, more particularly, to systems and methods for analyzing a smoking article filter associated with a smoking article, such as a cigarette, for determining a filter status with respect thereto.
Description of Related Art
Popular smoking articles, such as cigarettes, have a substantially cylindrical rod shaped structure and include a charge, roll or column of smokable material such as shredded tobacco (e.g., in cut filler form) surrounded by a paper wrapper thereby forming a so-called “smokable rod” or “tobacco rod.” Normally, a cigarette has a cylindrical filter element aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Typically, a filter element comprises cellulose acetate tow plasticized using triacetin, and the tow is circumscribed by a paper material known as “plug wrap.” A cigarette can incorporate a filter element having multiple segments, and one of those segments can comprise activated charcoal particles. Typically, the filter element is attached to one end of the tobacco rod using a circumscribing wrapping material known as “tipping paper.” It also has become desirable in some embodiments to perforate the tipping material and plug wrap, in order to provide dilution of drawn mainstream smoke with ambient air. Descriptions of cigarettes and the various components thereof are set forth in Tobacco Production, Chemistry and Technology, Davis et al. (Eds.) (1999). A cigarette is employed by a smoker by lighting one end thereof and burning the tobacco rod. The smoker then receives mainstream smoke into his/her mouth by drawing on the opposite end (e.g., the filter end) of the cigarette.
Various ways to alter the characteristics of mainstream smoke (including ways to enhance the sensory aspects of that smoke), and various devices suitable for producing components of smoking articles incorporating objects such as breakable flavor-containing capsules also are set forth in the background art of U.S. Pat. No. 8,186,359 to Ademe et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Furthermore, various devices suitable for producing components of smoking articles incorporating objects, such as breakable capsules, also are set forth in the background art of U.S. Pat. No. 8,186,359 to Ademe et al. See also, for example, the types of cigarettes, cigarette components and cigarette component manufacturing devices set forth in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2009/0050163 to Hartmann et al.; 2010/010589 to Nelson et al.; 2010/0294290 to Zhang; 2010/0184576 to Prestia et al.; 2011/0162662 to Nikolov et al.; 2011/0162665 to Burov et al.; 2011/0169942 to Brantley et al.; 2011/0271968 to Carpenter et al.; 2012/0245006 to Henley et al. and 2012/0245007 to Henley et al.; which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Typically, cigarettes incorporating breakable capsules have those capsules positioned within the filter elements of those cigarettes. During the manufacturing process of those filter elements, filter material is formed into a continuous rod having the breakable capsules positioned within a continuous rod along the longitudinal axis thereof. The continuous rod then is subdivided at predetermined intervals so as to form a plurality of filter rods or rod portions, such that each rod portion has one or more breakable capsules positioned therein. Manners and methods for inspecting breakable capsules within filter rods during filter rod manufacture have been set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 8,186,359 to Ademe et al. and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0169942 to Brantley et al. However, it would be desirable to inspect breakable capsules within cigarette components at various stages of the cigarette manufacturing process with improved accuracy. As such, there exists a need for an inspection/detection system having enhanced sensing capabilities.